Simon Mayo's Radio 1 debut in 1986"And on today's Gary Davies show he'll say... not much." real 28kHanding over to Jo Whiley, 16 February 2001"How cool was that?" real 28k

Friday, 16 February, 2001, 12:25 GMT

Mayo's Radio 1 farewell

Simon Mayo has been at Radio 1 for 15 years

DJ Simon Mayo has hosted his last show on BBC Radio 1 before he moves across to BBC Radio 5Live.

The 42-year-old broadcaster has become one of the most familiar voices on Radio 1 since he joined the network in 1986, seeing his popular Confessions slot turned into a BBC One television series.

He hosted the breakfast show for five years from 1988, taking on his mid-morning show in October 1993.

One of the reasons I'm not going to do a DLT is that I've nothing to complain about at all

Simon Mayo

Before signing off on his last show, he reminded listeners of Dave Lee Travis, who quit Radio 1 on-air in the early 1990s, complaining about BBC plans for the station.

He said: "One of the reasons I'm not going to do a DLT is that I've nothing to complain about at all - though as I'll still be employed by the BBC it'd be a stupid thing to do.

"I always thought as a kid working at Radio 1 would be the most fun and the best place for any presenter to work and I still think that's true."

The last record he played was heavy metal anthem Ace of Spades by Motorhead, and lunchtime host Jo Whiley played him out with a tape of quiz show presenter Anne Robinson saying: "Simon Mayo, you are the weakest link - goodbye!"

Head-hunted

Radio 5Live head-hunted him to present a new afternoon current affairs and chat show, featuring live links to events including Prime Minister's Question Time in the House of Commons.

Hosting a marathon broadcast for Comic Relief in 1999

He follows in the footsteps of Nicky Campbell, who moved from Radio 1 to host 5Live's morning programme.

Rather than take on a new DJ, Radio 1 has changed the existing presenters' time slots, with Jo Whiley's show running from 1000-1300, and Manchester duo Mark Radcliffe and Marc "Lard" Riley moving to 1300-1500.

Schedulers are adding an extra hour to the workload of Chris Moyles, whose show will run from 1500-1745, and breakfast presenter Sara Cox will now be on air from 0700-1000.

New show

The new three-hour 5Live Simon Mayo Show will be on air each weekday from 1300 from May.

A 5Live spokeswoman said the new show would be about "Simon Mayo the person".

She said: "The show will very much develop around Simon and his style. There will be big interviews, sports and then Question Time and we were looking for someone who could pull it all together."

Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt said: "Simon has been a real asset with a whole generation of listeners growing up tuning in to his shows.